Keeping your hips flexible after surgery

As we age, our joints become less elastic. Arthritis and surgery can place limits our flexibility. After my mother had surgery to repair a broken hip, she couldn’t reach to tie her shoes. With physical therapy and repeated stretching exercises she was able to improve her range of motion significantly.

Exercise and stretching help to keep us mobile and improve balance. Once we stop exercising we lose muscle mass and joints stiffen even more.

The Arthritis Foundation has an exercise program designed to help people with arthritis keep moving.

On page 42 of “Arthritis Today,” there are six simple stretching exercises on how to keep flexibility in the hips – especially after surgery.  

Planning a time in the day to exercise is important. Without a plan, chances are the exercise routine will take a back seat to other activities.

Stretching cold muscles is not recommended.  It's important to warm up ahead of time with a walk. A heating pad also helps warm muscles and improves flexibility, but does not take the place of exercise.

 Maine Warmers extra large Back Warmer covers a large area and may be just right to help warm the hips before stretching. A Whale Warmer is also quite large and a fun way to warm muscles. Check out Maine Warmers’ Web site for a variety of shapes and sizes.

Play Keeps Us Young

I am not a scientist, but I know I feel great after playing with my grandchildren or with relatives and friends. Play keeps us young. I think this statement must be backed up by scientific data somewhere. I often hear that laughter and physical activity are the best medicine.

The old adage,” All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” most people will agree is true as well.

For about three years, I spent every day, including weekends, working. I love my work and made that my excuse. Then one day, I realized I no longer had time to spend with friends, and was amazed that other people didn’t work on weekends. Once I realized I was missing out on a lot of fun, I began to take more time off, enjoy the company of others, and find activities that made me feel great. Every year now, my New Year's resolution is to HAVE MORE FUN.

Children and animals are great at playing. Animals never seem to lose their ability to play. Finding a healthy balance between work and play is just part of a healthy lifestyle.

Sometimes, when we play too hard we develop sore muscles – especially as we age.

Maine Warmers has a line of comforting creatures that will help you relax those muscles regain flexibility. These unique animal shaped microwave heating pads are available online and in a variety of gift stores. Check out Maine Warmers’ Hot Dog and Cozy Sheep as playful gifts for children and adults.

Helping an elderly relative

Helping an elderly relative may mean letting them do more for themselves. Yes, you might be able to help do a chore faster, and your intentions are purely to lend a hand, but if it is something the person can safely do for him or herself it might be better to back off. The more one can do for oneself, the more independent one feels. Confidence in elderly people diminishes as activities become more limited.

Being physically active (as is reasonable) can help circulation, flexibility, and balance. Exercise classes for the elderly help to keep muscle mass and provide some social interaction, which can be a challenge as age increases and mobility decreases.

The biggest help is to provide positive human interaction, to make sure the elderly person has fun and laughs as much as possible in the right situations. Encouraging conversation and storytelling, by asking questions about experiences with travel, school, and noteworthy events can help. Keep it light and fun – steering the conversation away from sadness if it creeps in.

Sometimes elderly people feel cold even when the inside temperature is 75 to 80 degrees because blood circulation may not be as vigorous as it once was. A microwave heating pad can provide comforting warmth and help stimulate circulation and flexibility. A gift of a Cozy Sheep, sometime referred to as a Cuddle Ewe, brings comforting warmth and companionship – perfect for an elderly person. It’s reusable, washable, durable, and safe. You can check out a variety of comforting creatures, including a Cozy Cat or Dachshund Neck Warmer for just the right one to bring a smile.

Personal Medical Journal Template

Keeping your own medical records is a good idea. A list of all doctors' visits - including dentists and eye doctors is very handy when you need to see dates of immunizations, tests, illnesses, conditions, and surgeries. If you move and have to find a new physician, you easily could provide photocopies of your medical history.  It would be especially handy if you are caring for children or an elderly parent.

We created a template to follow -- one that you could easily photocopy or print and use to record your family's visits to health professionals. Your physicians may use it to see health patterns or make critical diagnoses. Keep pages organized by family member in a loose leaf notebook.

If you need a microwave heating pad for an elderly parent or friend who is ill and feeling cold, check out Maine Warmers. Their microwave heating pads come in a variety of shapes and sizes -- including neck warmers, large back warmers, and cozy sheep among other comforting creatures.

Cut and paste this template into a Word document, save it, and print it when you need to make copies.

Journal of Medical Appointments

Patient Name: __________________________________________________________________________

Date: ____________________

Medical Professional and Type: _____________________________________________________________

Location: _______________________________________________________________________________

Reason for visit: _________________________________________________________________________

Symptoms: _____________________________________________________________________________

Questions: _____________________________________________________________________________

 _______________________________________________________________________________________

Diagnosis: ______________________________________________________________________________

  
Recommendations: ______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________ 

Prescribed Medications: __________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Tests and Immunizations: ________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Reason for and dates of tests: ________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Test results and dates: _____________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Referrals and follow-up appointments: ________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Blood pressure: __________________     Height: _________________         Weight: _________________

How to meet people as a senior and move to a new location

Volunteering is a great way to meet people when one moves to a new place. Retirees often move to be near family, to a retirement community, or to a warmer climate. It can be difficult to meet new people and it doesn’t take long to feel isolated.

One of my favorite sayings is, “A good place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm.” By helping others one helps him or herself. Volunteering can put you in touch with people who have similar interests.

Decide what kind of activity is satisfying for you and how much time you have to commit. Talk with a local librarian or community services or recreation department personnel in your new municipality. Do you need transportation? If so, ask about volunteer rides and public transportation.

The Corporation for National and Community Service Web site Senior Corps page allows you to put in the group which you have an interest in helping and your zip code (no names), and displays a list of volunteer opportunities.

If you know a senior who is feeling a little isolated due to surgery or illness, a visit and a Maine Warmer may be the perfect gift. Their Cozy Panda Bear and Sheep microwave heating pads offer comforting companionship as well as warmth when one is feeling cold due to lack of activity. If someone new has moved into your neighborhood you might welcome him or her with a gift.

Stretching to Help Balance

Keeping muscles flexible and in good working condition is important for balance, especially as we age and become more at risk for falls. The Mayo Clinic article, Stretching: Focus on Flexibility examines the benefits of a good stretching routine. Stretching may help improve your performance in physical activities and may help you avoid injuries.

They recommend routine stretching and to not consider it an afterthought. Stretching helps stimulate circulation and keep muscles flexible. One of their recommendations is to stretch when muscles are warmed up or after an exercise routine to avoid pulling a tight muscle.

A few tips to stretch correctly are: no bouncing, hold for 30- 60 seconds while breathing, don't stretch until you feel pain, and aim for the major muscle groups. If you participate in a sport then concentrate on stretching the muscles you use in that activity.

Heat will also help warm a muscle and improve blood circulation. A microwave heating pad may be just the
thing to use before a workout or stretching a tight muscle.

Maine Warmers'  Knee Pack can be used on knees, elbows, and more. Back Warmers and Neck Wraps are also versatile and can be microwaved for heat or frozen for gentle cold.

Tips for communicating with elderly parents

Talking with an elderly parent about their needs, fears, and frustrations can go a long way in helping to care for them. Communication and understanding is key to helping them through the aging process. Allowing parents to do as much as they can for themselves, for as long as possible, helps them emotionally and may save the caretaker extra work.

When you talk with your elderly parents, even though some of the issues are serious, try to keep the tone of the conversation light. Ask what they want as they continue their journey through their later years. Let him or her talk about the experiences they've had that influenced the way they do things or want their lives to be. Listen more than you talk.

Discussing finances with them is critical. Respecting their wishes and decisions, as long as they are reasonable and safe, is important to their well being. As long as parents are mentally capable of making decisions, then they need to be included.

Teaching parents about not giving out financial information to solicitors on the phone or at the door, no matter how nice the person seems, is vitally important. Even if phone solicitors claim to represent a utility company or a reputable organization, it is important for elderly parents to know to not give credit card or other personal information to them.

Resources
 
1.  OnlineOrganizing.com offers tips on organization in an article, Caring for Elderly Parents by Ramona Creel.
 
2.  Elder Care
 
3.  GRAND!times.com
 
If your elderly parent feels cold – even in the middle of summer – it may have to do with poor blood circulation and lack of physical activity. It’s worth a check with his or her physician (if the condition has not already been checked out). A microwave heating pad from Maine Warmers helps relax stiff muscles, stimulates blood circulation, improves flexibility.. A Cozy Sheep or Black Bear provides comforting companionship along with nurturing warmth.